


I love you so it'll be alright

by Evietan



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mermaids, F/F, chikayou and kanamaridia if u squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 02:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14368608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evietan/pseuds/Evietan
Summary: As a mermaid, Riko loves nothing more than to listen to the sound of the waves hitting the beach. But nature's music gets interrupted regularly by a quirky girl claiming to be a fallen angel and performing demonic rituals. Despite herself, Riko is intrigued.





	I love you so it'll be alright

**Author's Note:**

> Never gonna let Riko live down Three Mermaids. Never.  
> Song lyrics are Daisuki Dattara Daijobu, translation is taken from the wiki, with a few changes by me to fit the fic.

Riko loved the sound of the waves hitting the shore. It was its own unique kind of music, completely different from anything that could be heard underwater. Everyone told her it was boring or monotonous, but she couldn’t get enough of it. The subtle differences from wave to wave, sunny to rainy weather, season to season were what made the steady rhythm so addicting to listen to, and if nobody else understood, she was fine listening on her own.

Another person would have only made noise, like the humans did during the day. So she only came at night, conveniently also minimizing the risk of being discovered. Still, she always remained careful. If mermaids were discovered, they would have to leave, like her family had to when she was a child, so no evidence would be there for the humans to find. And it would be up to her friend You, who also happened to be the princess of their little colony, to organize that. They were lucky enough to have the families of the political and spiritual leaders of Uchiura on their side, protecting them from other humans for centuries now. Once word got out, they’d probably never find a settlement this convenient and safe again. Riko was fully aware of the consequences. Which was why she always left right away or stayed hidden if there were humans on the beach late at night.

But tonight the beach had been empty, any humans driven away by the cloudy weather and still chilly temperatures of an early spring night. She sat down on one of her favourite spots, a couple rocks right next to the sandy beach the humans loved to frequent during the day, and listened.

She must’ve gotten a bit lost in the music nature produced around her, because when she heard the footsteps of someone approaching, they were already clearly visible. Panicking, Riko dropped down in between the rocks, realizing too late that she was now basically trapped. If she left, the human would definitely see her, if they hadn’t already.

Her heartbeat was pounding in her ears as she waited, hiding as best as she could and listening for any hint that the human was coming too close or had noticed her already.

Thankfully, the footsteps stopped quite a bit away and a loud thud followed. Then some rustling, and a quiet laugh.

Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Riko peered over the rocks to get a look at the human. From what she could make out from the distance, it was a girl, maybe about her own age or a bit younger, and she was wearing an elaborate, dark dress, laughing to herself as she drew weird lines in the sand and accentuating the edges with seashells and some weird sticks.

This was definitely not normal human behaviour. Riko wasn’t exactly an expert, but like all mermaids, she’d been taught about basic human life and especially what they did on beaches, and this was covered nowhere. The girl did set up a camera at least, so Riko knew she wanted to record whatever it was she was doing. Then she pulled another small box out of her bag and used it to light up the sticks on her creation in the sand. They must’ve been candles then. Riko knew about those, even though they obviously didn’t work underwater, but she was still puzzled about their purpose here. A flashlight would’ve provided better and more reliable light, and with how small they were, the flames didn’t really produce any warmth either.

They didn’t even stay lit properly, the wind blowing them out frequently, causing the human girl to curse and start over, apparently determined to light them all. When the wind finally died down a little, the girl cheered and jumped into the air, but then she quickly composed herself. She turned on the camera and struck a pose.

“Welcome, little demons, to Yohane’s newest project! Spring has come, but there is no need to despair! Even though there is positive energy spreading across the land, the deep, dark sea will never succumb to such frivolous changes! Which is why today, I, the great fallen angel Yohane, will summon a demon straight from the depth of the ocean with my ritual!”

What? Riko was stunned. A fallen angel? That couldn’t be, right? Sure, there were black wings on the girl’s back, but they looked sewed on even from a distance. Not to mention that while angels existed, they looked nothing like humans, and they definitely wouldn’t try and summon a demon on the beach. This had to be a human, and a crazy one at that.

Still, Riko couldn’t leave, so she watched the girl chant some meaningless words and move around the circle with really weird motions. With every passing second, she was more convinced there had to be something wrong with this Yohane person.

Then, out of nowhere, it started to rain. Not just a little, it was pouring after just a few seconds of drizzle. ‘Yohane’ cursed again, proclaimed it was the result of her efforts to the camera, and went to pack everything up as quickly as she could before fleeing back in the direction of the human settlement.

Riko still couldn’t quite wrap her mind around what she’d seen, but she dove back into the ocean to get back home and get some sleep. There was no point hanging around in such heavy rain.

The next day, the encounter still hadn’t left her mind. She spent the afternoon with Chika and You as per usual, practicing a song they’d be performing together at the next invitational at the palace. But she kept getting distracted, her mind drifting off to the weird girl she’d seen last night.

Of course her friends noticed, and of course they didn’t let her pretend it was nothing, so she told them everything. Both of them were convinced it had to be a human too, but while You was mostly worried if Riko was safe and hadn’t been seen, Chika grinned mischievously. “So you’ve been thinking about her all day, huh? Did you dream about her too? Was she that cute?”

“No! I mean, I didn’t get a proper look at her at all! She’s just on my mind because I’ve never seen anyone like her!”

According to Chika’s face, that phrasing and her flustered tone didn’t help her case at all. “Sure, whatever you say~”

“Let’s just get back to practicing, I promise I’ll focus better!”

And at first, it seemed like that was it. Riko went back the following nights to listen to the waves as usual, but there was no sign of the weird girl. She wasn’t even sure if she was disappointed or relieved, but eventually Yohane faded to the back of her mind. It was just one weird chance encounter.

Except it wasn’t, because two weeks later, Yohane was back at it again, performing another ritual. Without any visual success. This time, Riko could have left, but she couldn’t deny that she was intrigued a bit. It was just curiosity, really. She did try to get a better look, but only because Chika asked. There was no way that she could get close enough to determine any visual features, but she took note of Yohane’s glossy black hair that was partly tied into a side bun. In general, she looked pretty cute for someone who claimed to be a fallen angel.

Except, of course, not cute _like that_. No way. That was just Chika at the back of her mind, trying to hook her up with literally anyone except herself or You.

Their encounters, if you could even call them that, continued regularly from there. Every other week, Yohane would come to the beach sometime after nightfall and record herself doing some kind of ritual. Riko still wasn’t entirely sure of the purpose, but Yohane kept addressing her “Little Demons” when she talked to the camera, so maybe it was some form of entertainment and other humans actually watched these recordings. For whatever reason.

Still, Riko found herself looking forward to them, always curious what crazy thing Yohane would come up with next and how it would turn out. Like the one time she threw stones at the ocean in hopes of angering the devil of the sea, but got caught up in trying to make them skip, failing horribly.

Yohane was also blessedly unaware of her surroundings, as Riko inched a little bit closer every time, allowing her to make out Yohane’s perky nose and fuchsia eyes shimmering in the dark.

When spring was already starting to change into summer, a horrible storm was hitting the shore on Yohane’s usual day to record her rituals. Normally, Riko would have skipped going to the shore that day, the danger outweighing any desire for music. But this time, she couldn’t help herself, she had to check if Yohane would still come. It was unlikely, but the nagging worry wouldn’t stop, so she snuck out at her usual time and made her way to the beach.

Her gut feeling turned out to be right, when she arrived, Yohane was already trying to set up her camera, having major difficulties as the wind was strong enough to blow it away. She was trying to secure it by digging holes into the sand and backing it up with stones she’d found lying around, but with little success.

What now? As of now, the wind wasn’t strong enough to be really threatening, but looking at the clouds, that would soon change, and rain would join too. It would be a full-blown typhoon, yet Yohane didn’t show any signs of giving up and going home where she would be safe. Maybe she wasn’t aware what was going to happen? Or was she just that determined to do her ritual?

Riko knew she should just leave. Soon it would be dangerous for herself too, and there was nothing she could do to help Yohane. If she wanted to warn her about the typhoon, she would have to reveal herself. Which was just a horrible idea on its own, especially considering that there was a camera right there, but it might not even help. If Yohane got interested in her, she was even less likely to leave.

But she couldn’t leave. She had to do something, anything, that would make Yohane go home. Maybe if she threw a stone? Or yelled about the typhoon from a bit farther away and then swam away as fast as she could?

While Riko was still busy wracking her brain for ideas, another voice she’d never heard before resounded over the beach.

“Yoshiko-chan, what do you think you’re doing, zura?”

Riko startled and hid behind her usual rocks as fast as she could, but she peered over them to see two girls run toward Yohane. Or Yoshiko? Was that her real name?

“I’m doing my usual ritual! A little wind won’t stop the fallen angel Yohane!”

“It’s too dangerous, Yoshiko-chan! There’s a typhoon coming!” While the third girl was pleading with Yoshiko, the other already started on packing up the camera and collecting Yoshiko’s things.

“It’s Yohane! And I’m not leaving! My little demons are waiting for my powers! Give back my camera, Zuramaru!”

“You can have it back tomorrow, when the storm is over, zura.”

“What?!”

“Please, Yoshiko-chan! Hanamaru-chan is just worried about you, just like me and everyone else! Just come home with us, you can film your ritual tomorrow, we’ll even come and help as your little demons!”

“Ruby…” For a moment, Yoshiko sounded genuinely touched, but then she was back to her fallen angel persona. “Alright! You better make good on that promise, little demons! We shall make a grand ritual together!”

Just in that moment, the first raindrops started falling.

“Let’s go, zura!”

The three girls hurried away together, and Riko followed their example, seeking shelter from the storm in the calm depths of the ocean.

If they made good on their promise to film a ritual together the next day, Riko would never know, because she got grounded for sneaking out and putting herself in danger. Still, she couldn’t regret it. She knew Yohane was safe, and she’d even learned her actual name.

That attitude didn’t help with Chika’s teasing at all, but Riko didn’t mind it so much. So what if she’d been worried? At this point, she had no problem with admitting that she liked Yohane. Sure, there were plenty of things about her Riko didn’t understand and probably never would, but her determination and perseverance were genuinely impressive to Riko. And she was cute, there was no way around it. But she was human. Riko would never talk to her, so none of that really mattered. She’d just watch from afar, like the people who were watching the recordings of her rituals. Being a little demon sounded kind of lame, but she didn’t mind calling herself a fan. Or a YouTube subscriber, as the humans would call it.

She genuinely didn’t mind not changing anything. Summer passed, Yohane kept up her rituals and Riko kept watching once a week. Chika got bored by the lack of news and instead focused her attention on getting You to watch the humans’ fireworks with her, despite the (incredibly small) risk, that they may be seen. Just the two of them. Riko did her best to support them.

It wasn’t until fall came to an end that her routine was shaken up. She was out listening to the waves as usual, waiting for Yoshiko to show up as usual. The wind was icy, but she’d always been out even in winter, and she’d brought her algae coat to keep her safe from the worst.

Yoshiko did show up at her usual time, camera in tow as always, but she didn’t stay at her usual spot. Riko had to hurry away as Yoshiko made her way over to the rocks she’d been hiding in during their first encounter.

“Behold, little demons,” Yohane declared, camera clutched tightly in her hands as she filmed the rocks, “it’s time for the grand finale, today I will finally summon the devil of the sea himself! Starting with next week, we’ll be back in my lair, and I’ll be doing the fortune telling everyone has been requesting. So stay tuned! But for now, let’s focus on the ritual at hand! It’s impossible to summon the evil of the sea on the beach as it’s too flooded with positive energy.”

Yoshiko went on, explaining in more detail why she was climbing the rocks and what she would do, but Riko couldn’t focus on what she was saying. Grand finale. Back to her lair. That meant she’d stop coming to the beach, and Riko wouldn’t be able to watch her anymore. The cold breeze felt suddenly much more biting, and she wrapped her coat tighter around herself. It didn’t help at all.

She tried to shake herself out of it, if this was the last time she could watch Yohane do her thing, she should make it count! Treasure every second! Somehow, her body translated that into ‘get as close as possible’ and was moving towards where Yoshiko was climbing before she’d even made the conscious decision, much less thought about the risks.

That turned out to be a terrible, terrible mistake. She must’ve made a splashing sound, because Yoshiko whirled around, pointed her camera directly at Riko and yelled “It worked! Yohane finally summoned a deep sea monster, and it’s the devil of the sea h- hyaaaaa!”

She slipped. The rocks were wet, she’d turned too fast, and her hands were still holding the camera, giving her no way to regain her footing. With an undignified scream, Yohane fell into the sea.

Riko couldn’t do anything but watch, frozen in place. She’d fucked up. She’d fucked up on so many levels, she didn’t even know where to start.

It took her longer than it should have to realize that Yoshiko didn’t come back up, and that there was something horribly wrong with that. Humans _drowned_.

Once the word crossed her mind, she sped forward and down, frantically looking for Yoshiko. Thankfully the water wasn’t deep at all – Yoshiko could probably breathe if she just stood upright – and finding her wasn’t a problem.

The problem was that she wasn’t moving. At all. Panicking, Riko swam over to her and pulled her up and out of the water, carrying her back to the beach. Once settled there, Riko noticed that Yoshiko was bleeding. She must’ve hit her head on the rocks! That’s why she was unconscious too.

Riko quickly pulled her coat apart to produce a makeshift bandage to wrap around Yoshiko’s head. Thankfully she started coughing up water, even if she didn’t wake up. Still, Riko was stumped on what to do. She should call other humans for help, but how? She didn’t know how to work a human phone, even if Yoshiko had one on her. She searched for one anyway and found one in Yoshiko’s pocket. She frantically pressed whatever buttons she could find, but none of them did anything.

It was probably broken. Human technology didn’t do so well with water, after all. Slightly belatedly, she checked the camera as well, still clutched tightly in Yoshiko’s hands. Just as the phone, nothing happened regardless what button Riko pressed.

Well, at least that meant she didn’t have to worry about being discovered.

But she still had to worry about Yoshiko. How long until someone would notice she wasn’t coming back? Wasn’t there a way she could alert other humans to this? There was nobody around… Riko had never talked to a human before, she didn’t know how to get a hold of one, even the two families who knew about mermaids. It just hadn’t been relevant to her ever before, other people took care of their relations with them.

Other people! Who took care of it! Riko pulled out her own phone as fast as she could when the solution hit her. It was so obvious too, why hadn’t she thought of this sooner? She scrolled through her contacts and pressed the phone to her ear, praying someone would pick up despite the late hour. But thankfully, she heard the click that told her she was connected after just three rings.

“Kanan-san? I really, really need your help…” She explained the situation as best as she could, even though she was still a bit out of it from shock and worry. Relief flooded through her body when Kanan told her not to worry, she’d immediately call for help, and all Riko needed to do was make sure that Yoshiko kept breathing and didn’t bleed too much until they got there, and that it shouldn’t be long at all since the Kurosawas lived close by.

So Riko checked the bandage and Yoshiko’s breath once more, and as both seemed okay, she allowed herself to relax a little. The seconds still ticked by at a snail’s pace though, so on a whim, she decided to sing to pass the time and keep herself calm. She’d written the song herself to perform it with Chika and You, but only now she realized that she probably thought about Yoshiko when she did.

_Shine!_  
_My heart started beating quickly_  
 _It's all because I saw you there!_  
  
_"I want to give it a go"_  
 _My throbbing heart still couldn't determine how confused I am_  
 _Even so, I finally chose to start as it might just be destiny_  
 _Our feelings are coming together_  
  
_We don't know what will occur next, what should we do?_  
 _Even so, I keep going forward with these expectations of mine_  
 _This grim attitude will disappear one day_  
 _Let's be vitality and go forward in a vital way!_  
  
_Shine!_  
 _My heart started beating quickly_  
 _When I felt this, right here, I saw you there_  
 _Shine!_  
 _I found it with my passionate heart_  
 _This light is so very pretty and our wish is even brighter_  
 _I love you, so it’ll be alright!_  
  
_"Let's do it"_  
 _Even if we can't find some suitable words to describe our determination_  
 _Anyway, we will start to regret it if we don't start right now_  
 _We should do something so we need to force ourselves to fly_  
  
_I want to start planning our future but where should we go? Go forward with whom?_  
 _The fantastic stage which we have never seen before It's our chance!_  
 _Don't be afraid and don't stop_  
 _Let's be courageous as courage is our high power_  
  
_We don't know what will occur next_  
 _Even so, I keep going forward with these expectations of mine_  
 _This grim attitude will disappear one day_  
 _Let's be vigorous and keep going forward vigorously!_  
  
_Shine! Bright!_  
 _My heart started beating quickly_  
 _When I felt this, right here, I saw you there_  
 _Shine!_  
 _I found it with my passionate heart_  
 _This light is so very pretty and our wish is even brighter_  
 _I love you, so it’ll be alright!_

Two humans were running towards her when she finished, and Riko was surprised to see that one of them was one of Yoshiko’s friends who’d helped getting her home during the typhoon. Ruby, if she remembered correctly. So she was a Kurosawa?

But it was the other, older girl who talked to Riko, while Ruby knelt down next to Yoshiko and checked her injuries. The other girl introduced herself as Dia, and Riko gave her a rundown of what happened, even though Dia’s stern voice and look made it feel more like a police interrogation.

She told Riko to leave pretty soon though, because the ambulance was arriving. Riko hurried to leave, but she still pleaded with Dia to let her know once they knew Yoshiko would be alright. Not knowing would drive her crazy. At this, Dia’s expression turned soft, and she promised to send regular updates to Kanan before she shooed Riko back into the ocean for good.

That night, Riko could barely sleep. Eventually, she just gave up, and made her way over to Kanan’s house as soon as it could be considered a somewhat socially acceptable time to show up.

Kanan didn’t mind, and even made her breakfast while they waited for news together. She listened patiently as Riko rambled on about all the nights she’d watched Yohane, and all her thoughts and feelings, how much she’d enjoyed watching her, how sad she’d been that she’d stop recording videos, how guilty she felt that Yoshiko was hurt because of her.

When the message finally came a bit before noon that Yoshiko was awake and would be fine, Riko felt more relieved than ever before. But Dia also reported that Yoshiko had vague memories of recording Riko and even hearing her sing, though she seemed pretty confused about the fact that an algae monster had such a pretty voice and would sing such a lovely song.

Riko felt heat rising to her face. Yoshiko had heard her song? And she liked it?

Meanwhile, Kanan studied her closely. “Riko… How much do you like that girl?”

She froze. Her cheeks heated up even more as she tried to stammer out an answer. “I-I just think she’s really interesting… and unique! It’s not- It’s not what you think! Probably. I don’t know, I just…”

“It’s okay.” Kanan gently took her hands into her own. “You don’t have to have a word for it, and you don’t need to tell me. It’s none of my business. What I’m getting at is that she remembers you, and since she’s friends with people from both the Kurosawa family and the Kunikida temple, it wouldn’t be impossible to tell her the truth. Technically, we’re not supposed to, and we’d have to get You’s approval as well, but if you trust her enough and want to meet her properly, we could arrange that somehow.”

Riko blinked. “But… humans can’t know about us. We can’t let the word spread. Nobody outside of just two families knows about us! I don’t want there to be a grand exception just because I’m You’s friend. And everyone would say that humans can’t be trusted under any circumstances…”

“Well…” Kanan scratched her cheek. “I’m offering because something similar happened to me years ago, so it’d be hypocritical to not at least give you a chance.”

“What?” She’d never heard anything about this.

“Nobody but You knows, but I didn’t just make friends with Dia when I was a kid, there was another girl named Mari as well whose family doesn’t have any roots in Uchiura at all. Even now, it’s always the three of us, and I wouldn’t give that up for the world.”

Kanan had such a fond smile on her face, Riko didn’t doubt her words for a second. She wasn’t friends with Yoshiko though. They’d never even talked. There was no way this was on the same level.

But maybe it could be. Somehow, she knew Yoshiko would come looking for her anyway. It couldn’t hurt to wait for her on the beach, as usual, and try. It was a bit risky, yes, but she realized she didn’t mind if it meant she could keep seeing Yoshiko and even talk to her.

So, a few days later, she sat in her usual spot at the beach, and when she noticed Yoshiko approaching, fresh out of the hospital but obviously determined to find her ‘algae monster’, instead of hiding, she started singing.

Yoshiko stopped dead in her tracks for a moment, then started running towards Riko. “It’s you! You’re real! You exist! I knew it! Are you a demon? A Monster? The devil? A fallen angel?”

Unable to help herself, Riko doubled over laughing.

“What’s so funny? I’ll have you know, I’m a fallen angel so I know all of these exist! You can’t from that you’re one of- Wait!” Yoshiko’s gaze very obviously landed on the fins covering her lower back, then the scales that marked the end of her human-like parts and the beginning of her fish-like ones. For emphasis, Riko flapped her tail around a little, still laughing.

“You’re a mermaid!” Yoshiko pointed her finger at her, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide. And then they started to sparkle. “That’s so cool! An actual mermaid! Not as cool as a fallen angel, but still amazing! And you saved me! Thanks for that! You were there and watched me, right? Were you attracted by Yohane’s rituals and otherworldly power? If you want to, I can easily make a contract for you to become my little demon! Ah, wait. What’s your name?”

“It’s Riko, but, um, I just thought what you were doing was interesting… I don’t really need to be your little demon…”

“Don’t worry, Riri! We’ll have a lot of fun together! I’ll take you as my little demon later too, if you’re too shy now!”

Yoshiko climbed onto the rocks to sit next to Riko, smiling expectantly at her. Riko was a tiny bit overwhelmed, if she was honest with herself, but at least she too was convinced that they’d have a lot of fun. It was already amazing to finally have Yoshiko so close. Without thinking, Riko reached out her hand and helped Yoshiko up. Her heart sped up even just from feeling Yoshiko’s much warmer skin, and she quickly let go again while Yoshiko got settled next to her.

Maybe she was a bit too far gone already, but somehow, she had the feeling that it didn’t matter. With a little more time, this would develop into something amazing.

**Author's Note:**

> I made a discord server with some friends a while ago to talk about love live, so if anyone's interested in talking about their fav idols, ships, songs and llsif scouts, come join us! We're all nice. https://discord.gg/KZrv9


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